Final reflections

Top 10 ideas from the course...

10. Some imaginative bridges between art forms and education are more abstract than others. The work of music, film, and photography seemed to be more abstract than aspects of fashion, interior design, and advertising, which were more apparent.

9. Working in 3 dimensions adds many new considerations that you don’t have in 2 dimensions. The Interior Design and Architecture module project illustrated new concepts of how we experience and process space.  These are considerations you don’t have in 2D art forms (film, photography).

8. All things have an aesthetic and a craft, despite intention. The Eisner article at the beginning of the course laid a solid foundation for the work of the semester with this simple notion. Everything that is made or performed has an aesthetic and is crafted, whether or not it is done explicitly or consciously. This was well illustrated for me in my internal thinking in the fashion module, where it became evident that even if you don’t engage fashion as an activity or enterprise, you are subject to it (and many of its trappings).

7. Creating is better learning than merely reading and writing. The process of creating videos all semester long gave the added dimension of meta-analysis of aesthetics. As we analyzed the work of art within the topic, on another level, we had to deal with the aesthetics of the synthesized product.

6. The work of a compelling experience can be boiled down to a few essential elements. Written another way, a compelling experience does not have to be complicated. The constraints of the 2 Minute Moment projects forced me to distill the elements of the compelling experience into a few essential points. While you can delve into the details endlessly, the structure of the experience can be described rather succinctly.

5. Having a modicum of understanding about the aesthetics of an art form can deepen your appreciation for that form. Examining the area where technique (or composition) and emotion (or experience) meet in music can make you more attune to the beauty, power, complexity, or simplicity of all kinds of pieces. This was an interesting byproduct of the Music module project.

4. The magic of forming art happens in between the technical aspects. As we analyzed the technical elements of several art forms, I realized that the they (technical elements) really only explained the structures that make actual things happen. Film editing, for instance: you can learn the techniques of film editing, but the artistry comes from a knowledge of forming the pieces of film into a work. Same thing with music, you can understand the technical aspects of intervals, scales, and how to play an instrument, but creating art with it happens in between those technical details.

3. Transforming a non-compelling experience to a compelling one can be rather simple. The photography assignment showed me that you can tweak just a few elements (like lighting and angle) and come up with rather surprising results.

2. The act of doing and creating is the compelling part of the learning environment. This just occurred to me right now.  Self explanatory.

1. As a teacher, you cannot make a compelling experience happen; you only set up the framework for an experience in the learning environment. Ultimately, the students make the experience compelling or not through their inquiry, interaction, and involvement.

2MM v3: Kayaking in the backyard

On fashion and education...

Initially my mind rejected the notion of making an imaginative bridge between fashion and education as an foolish absurdity. On their face, the most visible representations of fashion illustrate some of the most senseless excesses of our culture. But as I dove into the assignment for this module, to examine the work of fashion advice as evidenced by the (at times bizarre) television show What Not To Wear, the notion that fashion is deeply entwined with self-identity and self-expression came into focus. As such, perhaps there is a connection between representing yourself creatively through fashion, and representing your understanding of concepts in a learning environment.

Rules.  In fashion, there are certainly hard rules to follow for forming your fashion such as colour clashing.  In education, there are rules or guidelines set by an instructor on the proper form your work must take: essay length, use of specific sources, use of certain digital tools, etc..

Methodology. In fashion, there is a methodology to making a pleasing display: colour matching, selection of different kinds of material, form fitting or loose fitting clothes, etc. In the classroom, an instructor often imparts a methodology for the work to be done: scientific inquiry in a laboratory setting, sentence structure and mechanics, solving or processing formulas and equations in mathematics, etc..

Creativity. Creativity operates at the highest levels of both pursuits. In fashion, individual creativity is what propels the art form with people taking chances and pushing boundaries. In learning, creativity is what enables students to form knowledge and demonstrate understanding.

On music & teaching redux...

Music is a multidimensional discipline, and has many layers that are conceptually similar to teaching and learning.  First, music is, at its root, sound, which is physical, and can be understood as acoustics. Learning, too, is a physical thing in the social constructivist paradigm of creating knowledge through doing.

Next, music is mathematical. Sounds can be interpreted as frequencies to be calculated and manipulated by synthesizers or computers. Music composition is often spoken of in terms of intervals, or the relative distance between notes or chords like the universal blues progression I-IV-V, or the standard jazz progression I-V-IV-I. Beyond mathematics being a core subject area, we must conceptually think of the intervals and progression of teaching: scaffolding, chunking, and sequencing information for students.

Finally, music is a creative pursuit–through composition and performance, a musician demonstrates their work. This is also true of a student, who creates artifacts along the way in the process of learning: projects, written papers, tests, and other more creative representations. Often through performance of a task, or synthesis of information, they demonstrate their understanding of concepts.

Through this multidimensional and layered approach, we can understand some of the delicate work at play in both art forms.

Music Module Project

Analyzing how musicians grab and maintain the audience's attention to create a compelling experience.

Music is Broken Colours by Marconi Union ©2012
http://www.marconiunion.com

Created for CEP 882:
The Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences.
Michigan State University - Spring 2013

On music and teaching...

I was particularly struck by the enormity of the Italian terms for musical (and musical/emotional) concepts in this week's readings. Perhaps it is true that you can tell a lot about a culture by the way its language treats a subject—a popular misconception is that Eskimos have many words for snow.

In particular, the way that terms seemed to overlap, or describe the same feeling, tempo, or mood:



[Mosso - agitated
 Allegro - moderately fast]

[Accelerando - Accelerating
 Affrentado - becoming hurried]

Or terms that evoked an emotional sense:

Largo - slow and dignified.
Dolce - sweetly
Maestoso - majestic
Vivace - vivacious

These are highly nuanced terms that illustrate the point that music is highly connected to the emotional center of the brain. Tapping into this could have a positive impact on learning.  Indeed, a lot of research has been conducted along these lines.

I've witnessed teachers in several subjects utilize music in the classroom for varying purposes: illustrating cultural differences, setting a mood for the learning environment, or simply to motivate students. A current Spanish teacher colleague of mine plays music from different Latin-American countries during periods when students are reading. A Humanities teacher plays different styles of music while students are working on collaborative projects (a frequent occurrence).

2MM v2: Mel Gordon

WARNING NSFW: Contains drawn and photographic nude imagery.

Please view directly on YouTube, where the images are larger and clearer: http://youtu.be/sznn7f1TGyU

2 Minute Moment #2: Transformation of experience through aesthetic design.



Music bed is Godchild by Miles Davis ©1949.

On interior design and teaching...

Image from http://www.nhit-shis.org/

There is a less abstract link between interior design and the other artforms we have covered so far in this course. There is a multitude of articles online about classroom interior design, whose suggestions run all across the spectrum, and often contradict each other. This leads me to believe that outside of a few core principles, interior design of classrooms is largely subjective.

Most of the reading I have done on the subject suggests using vibrant colours—though in what combinations, patterns, or motifs the suggest. All authors suggest the use of ample wall decorations, through some suggest arranging them linearly to suggest order, and others suggest non-linear, maybe random arrangements.

Another element of interior design in classrooms is found in the way lower elementary classrooms are designed.  Often, they are organized into activity zones: reading, math, computer table, open play space, mailboxes, blocks or other toys, etc. This usually gives way to more flexible work areas around grade 3 or 4.

Interior Design Module Project

On advertising and teaching...

I am a little uncomfortable with the idea of linking advertising with teaching. If we are being overly reductive, both teaching and advertising are about motivating people. True. However, I believe you have to be rather cynical about human nature in order for advertising to be successful. When practiced at its best, advertising plays upon the basest of human instincts, often subliminally, to motivate people to do things or acquire things they often don't need. Contrasting this to teaching, where we overtly (attempt to) motivate people to engage new information and construct knowledge and experience from it. To be sure, there are teachers who are cynical about their pedagogy, their students, and the impact of their work, but we can agree that these are not effective teachers.

Film Project: Sense

Directors Commentary

I went through several iterations of this project. My initial concept was to capture the sense of hurrying up to something, then slowing down to enjoy it. I spent two evenings filming sunsets, and created three vastly different films. I spent a lot of time on the first iteration working on the technical nuances of the time-lapse. This freed me up to spend more time on the aesthetic qualities on the second iteration (which you can view below). Feedback from my test audience (read: wife) indicated that the concept was too expansive, and I should focus on something simpler.

The move towards a simpler concept was made easier when I re-read the directions, and realized my film was 5 times the suggested length. My new concept was the sense of time passing. I selected a specific segment of music that maintained a steady rhythm and was a little repetitive.

One aspect that I believe truly lends towards the concept is the audio recording of shorebirds (which was taken from the previous night's recording).  The shorebirds are heard in real-time while the visual is running at approximately 70x real-time.  I think this creates a slight cognitive dissonance, however it may be too subtle to have any real effect on the casual observer. It seems to me that I've seen this effect in movies and television before where the background noise plays normally during a sped-up time lapse shot.

Another impression you might draw from their piece is the sense of something drawing to a close, due to the visual of the sunset. This is an unintentional byproduct of significantly shortening the length of the film beween drafts v2 and v3. I wouldn't necessarily find fault with this assumption, but the fact that the music is steady throughout (rather than tapering off) and the street lights on the shore (right side) continue to pulse might give a different impression.

One regret I have is in the framing of the shot. In order to begin the film with the sun as high as possible in the frame, I was forced to tilt up, cutting off the boardwalk below and its constant stream of walkers, bicyclists, rollerbladers, and other revelers. The visual effect of these people flowing past along the bottom of the frame might have had an substantial impact on the general sense being conveyed by the piece.


Draft v2.1:

On filmmaking and teaching...

Two things jumped out at me from this week's readings with regard to teaching. First, Paul Hirsch, a renowned film editor, spoke about how using a split-screen in film will detach the audience emotionally from a scene, and engage them only intellectually. This inspired a thought that often, a successful lesson  will frame the information so that it resonates with the student emotionally. This can be done through project-based learning or other types of lessons where students are creating things. When a student creates or builds something, they are usually emotionally invested into it, and that is more likely to stay with them over time. Experiential learning is another way students can be emotionally tied to the things they learn through the cycle of: experience, reflection, and application of information.

The second thing that stood out came from the site on television journalism.  The article suggests that the journalist forms the information into an easy to understand package, and let the audience draw inferences and form opinions. This is similar to a lecture/discussion type of situation where the teacher's role is to frame the relevant information in a way the students can understand so they can inquire, research, synthesize their understanding, and hopefully transfer the knowledge to other areas.

2 Minute Moment: Amon Tobin

Bridging photography and learning

Pondering the bridge between graphic design and education last week had to do with process, organization, and attention. More specifically, the interaction between the work and the audience. This week, examining the link between photography and education, I'm more apt to consider the work and experience of the the creator. The process of choosing a subject, capturing it, and improving upon it certainly has an analog in the core of sound pedagogy: choosing a topic (or group of content standards), creating a whole lesson, and then improving upon it for the following year (or semester). I believe that some of the aesthetic concerns of the photographer are also shared with a talented teacher: framing information and assignments in ways that are interesting and accessible for students to engage. Students in a classroom are as fickle as the audience at a photography show: taste in art can be as varied as complex (and layered) personality types and learning styles. This means that not every piece/lesson will appeal to every person/student. Our goals then as educators must be to make our lessons (and the experiences they create) as accessible as possible to the widest field of students, allowing us to give more attention to support those who require it.

Photography Module Project

Click the link below to see the original/first shot.

On Graphic Design...

On the surface, graphic design is about grabbing the attention of the audience and guiding its focus to specific images or information. While some graphic design is meant to inspire thought, more often we see it used in more utilitarian ways: advertising and branding. However, if we contemplate the elements and essential aims of graphic design rather than its more mundane uses, it is easy to draw parallels to the classroom.

To be sure, consider this description of the intent of graphic design: "Designers develop images to represent the ideas their clients want to communicate," (Poggenpohl, 1993). We could easily reformulate this statement: "Teachers develop lessons to represent ideas they want to communicate (to students)." It could be said that both pursuits (commercialism and education) intend to deliver content which will inspire thought (or opinion), and move the audience to action. Perhaps that is overly reductive. Nonetheless, there are several overarching commonalities: grabbing attention, guiding focus, maintaining attention, delivery of information, inspiring thought, and (hopefully) response of the audience.



Poggenpohl, Sharon Helmer. (1993). Graphic Design: A Career Guide and Education Directory.  Retrieved from: http://www.aiga.org/guide-whatisgraphicdesign/ 

Eisner, forms, and teaching

The link between aesthetic design and the classroom becomes readily evident after having read Eliot Eisner's Aesthetic Modes of Knowing (1985). In this chapter, Eisner asserts that compositional aesthetics are important to all fields, not just those thought of as specifically oriented to sensory perception like the Arts. There is a craft and aesthetic to all things whether or not we consciously apply it in the creation process. Indeed, we may not even consciously perceive the aesthetics, but the fact that we perceive a thing necessitates that it has some aesthetic qualities.

This issue of conscious design and perception (and lack thereof) certainly applies to the classroom. There are many aesthetic forms within and produced by the craft of teaching including (but certainly not limited to) design of instructional materials and delivery of content (lecturing, leading discussions, guiding research, etc.). On the learning side too, processing information, forming opinions, creating artifacts to demonstrate their understanding, and ultimately transferring knowledge to other areas can all be recognized as aesthetic forms in one way or another.

Both teachers and students can be oblivious to the aesthetic of their respective work; the results are similar and linked: uninspired teaching will beget uninspired learning. It is our job as teachers, learners, designers, and technologists to catalyze strong teaching and learning, and attention to aesthetics is without a doubt a central concern.